CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2237, 14 January 1897, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

Intimately connected with the introduction of horseless carriages, isaconsideraINDIA- tiou of the world's future supply rubber. of indiarubber. Rubbet is daily coming into greater varieties of use. During the last five years the use of pneumatic tyres for cycles and solid tyres for horse vehicles his enormously increased the consumption. Competent judges say that if the output could be doubled within a year, so many new applications of the material would instantly arise that the price would not fall appreciably. Hundreds of men have endeavoured to find a substitute, but none haa succeeded. Native rubber is the product of upwards of 20 different kinds of tre«s that grow in equatorial regions. The btst comes from the valley of tbe Amazon, but A.rica produces a great deal, and India is embarking upon the cultivation of suitable trees. The obstacle is that the jungles where rubber trees grow are most deadly to the white man, and the natives aro not disposed to industry. In their African possecsions the Belgians are reported to have inflicted great cruelties upon the natives to compel them to produce sufficient quantities of the material. The Brazilian article is produced from a tree ; the African from a climbiug shrub; and the consequential differeace is great. Tbe best Para rubber is worth 3s 6d a pound, and the Brazilians farm their trees carefully, while the worst African is worth under Is, with the consequence that in exploiting it much is permanently destroyed. There are vast areas yet unexplored that are known to contain large quantities of rubber, and how to get at this profitably is the mercantile question. The difficulty of procuring it will always stimulate invention, and = possibly some genius .will soon astonish the world and enrich himself by penetrating the mysteries of nature and making rubber artificially.

Some time ago the London County Council made a new departure by abandireot doning the contract system and Employment adopting instead directly paid v. labour. The experiment wns contracting, ueted with, interest all over the British Empire, and mauy municipal bodies have been led to partially follow the example set by so distinguished an exemplar. The new system has, however, received a check from the discovery of what we known as the London County Council scandals. It was found that in order to make certain works appear to cost less than was really the oase the accounts had been *♦ fudged" to such an extent as to de-

8 troy all taita in the integrity of the manipulators, because it was easily seen that snoa irregularities gave infinite possibilities of robbery. The Suu, which may be regarded as the mouthpiec j of extreme Radicals, saw in the exposures aud the subsequent inquiries only •• a campaign against tair wages," aud went on to become apologist by saying : " The ljiog aud dishonest work done under the contract system, nob merely in London but throughout the country, is one of the scandals ' of the sure. Is it not notorious that iv hundreds 1 of casts ditease and death have walked iv the train of the jerry-builder and tbe scamping contracior ? Within rtn own aphere the Works ' department if a oUnding guarantee against these perils to the public health So we repeat thaS the qu- stion ot the equalir.y ut the work is as important as its cont. Evoit as regards cost, we believe the Works department will hold its own in a comparison with legitimate rivals." But it is not a question of cost at all ; it is one of honesty, aud the conviction has beeu formed that a system thr.t needs bolstering up by such methods must bn unbound.

Tha Morning Advertiser Hays on the other side that which common sens^ the othfk corroboratts :—": — " The history ot side - the Works Committee appears * to show that ib is pnzrd by those who prize it partly as an example of the . practicability of Socialistic ideas?, aud partly I as a means' of providing smooth things for the ■ earners of wagt-s, and that it is tolerated by those who have the interests of the ratepayers at hearb only so far as it is believed to dv its work properly withouc undue expense. Its steady saving ou the estimates has been pointed to % as the evidence that it works tfficiently and economically. The discovery that there was, iv fact, no such steadiness, but that the accounts wer« deliberate^ falsified to show it, must necessarily arouse the suspicion that there wa,h a good deal else that was wrcng. For onr own part we hava always protested that such savings ou the estimates as were shown were no test ot efficiency or economy ; and it is with peculiar natisfaction that we welcome the prospect of * full and impartial inquiry into the management and financial position of the Works Committee. Now that we know what pains have been taktn to make the results of its operations seem other than they were, there is all the more reason for desiring that light shall be let in .• upon the whole course of its proceedings. It stands much iv need ot vindication." We have uever admired the system of unchecked tendering, but it has at all events the merit of , economy to the ratepayers, whereas the revelations just referred to show that waste and demoralisation may arise from "direct employment" by a public body.

1 ~ Probably no native industry has excited so much controversy aa that relatsojib ing to flax. Tue Government iNDUSThiAii aud the press have been iuunbetdrns. d» f ed with suggestion*, fl-nd ( t.ven now au expert subsidi«ed 1 by Government is going, or h»s gone, Home ■ for the purpose of enjoying a trip and fiudiug out what the matter is. The secret, of course, really is that no one has yet found a method of converting the fibre into a five textile material, and for the coarser purposes it has numerous competitors before which it mu«t retire. Meanwhile the industry ia rapidly declining. Even so recently as 1890 there were 177 milts employing 2169 meu and 10£9 boys. Now there are only 52, employing 484 men and IG3 boys. The wages paid per annum are now only £17,544 against £116.168 in 1890. Consequently every other feature of the industry shows a corresponding decline. How great a source of wealth is surely vanishing is shown by the comparisons of value of output. In 1890 the fibre turned out was worth £232 802 ; last year it was worth only £31,771. The totil value of the maunf actures turned out in 1890 ■sai £234,266 ; last year ib was only £32.546. Ib looks very much as if Phormiam teuax were doomed. From the accidenral circumstance that the wheat crop of 1895 was a, poor one the returns compiled for th*t vtar compare unfavourably with those of 1890. In the former year there were 129 flour mills ; iv 1895, there were 90. The introduction of rolling mills no doubt affected the returns from seme points lof view. In 1890 taere were iv use 274 pairs of stones, and there were 273 sets of rollers ; in 1895 there were only 144 pairs of stones, bub there were 406 sets ot rollers. Iv 1890 there were dealt with 4,406,350 bushels of wheat; in 1895 there were 3,815,433 bushels. The quantity of "other gram" showed a small increase, but the total value of the output, as well as j the actml quantity, showed a decrease, the former being from £991,812 to £874,653. The value of land and buildings in use has fallen, bah Hie value of machinery has increased from £166,181 to £179,403.

c quan-

1 t " The Spectator advocates the expenditure of £50,000.000 in five years on the naval construction of warships, in scpbemacy. order to convince France that it is hopeless to compete with the .increasing strength of the British navy." So ran a cablegram the other day, and it reflects admirably the tension that exists among ' the chief maritime nations upon the subject of

ur.vai string- h. It is » saojecu aoout wtncu it is difficult to maintain secrecy. A nation cannot build warships secretly. It may have a uew weapon whose qualities have not beeu publicly demonstrated, as was the case wheu the Germans produced the needle, gun, but the aying down of the keel of a ship is a different mutter The construction of the vessel may occupy year*, and by the time ib is completed the par iculars are Irnown tj all tbe world. Consequently it v easy to keep up a comparison, and as a matter of fact every good annual coutains the names, tonnage, armament, aud speed of every warship owned by the maritime Powers. 4. return bus just be r n issued by the Admiralty in accordance with Sir Charles Dilke's motion :n the Home of Commons showtug the number of warships owned and iv course of construction by six leading Power". Prom this it appears that Great Britain hes 362 nuilt and has 89 under construction. Fr*nc> nax 320 aud 33 respectively ; Russia, 213 and 40 ; Germany, 172 and 19 ; Italy, 187 and 13 ; the United States, 52 aud 25. The Continental numbers are swollen by tbeir torpedo boats of small type. Great Britain has more battleships (57) than France (35) and Ru-sia (18) combined. Britain ba* also » greater uumb'T of quick-flrmsf guvs (1905) than France (1166) and . Russia (547) eotnbim") Adding breech-loading and muzzle-loading guiis, tho compared armaments would bo (1) 2321, (2) 2077. Britons that remember that Britain's g ret. test victories have sdway.i been gained against numerical odds will regard nhese tacts with s&tis1 faction.